Physics 11 (Fall 2012) Syllabus Instructor Information: Instructor: Joe McCullough Office: Room 205C Telephone: 479-6521 E-mail: jomccull@cabrillo.edu Office Hours: Mon. 11:15 12:15 Tues. 2:00 3:00 Wed. 11:15 12:15 Thur. 2:00 3:00 Also by appointment. PLC Hours: Mon. 2:00 3:00 (room 209) Tues. 3:00 4:00 Wed. 9:45 11:15 Course Information: Class Meetings: Lecture (room 205) M, W 12:40 2:00 Lab (room 208) T, Th 12:40 2:00 PLC (room 209) 1.1 hours drop-in (at your convenience) Textbook: College Physics (2 nd Edition), Knight, Jones, and Field Class Website: http://www.cabrillo.edu/~jmccullough/physics11 Student Learning Outcomes: 1) Analyze and solve problems using the concepts, equations and methods of physics in both independent and collaborative settings. 2) Investigate physical phenomena experimentally using appropriate equipment and methods, and make valid comparisons with theoretical predictions. 3) Clearly communicate results of scientific inquiries in both oral and written form.
Grading Policy: Course work will be weighted as follows: Class Participation 5% PLC Activities 10% Lab Reports 10% Homework 10% Quizzes 15% Midterm 25% Final Exam 25% 100% Grade cutoff levels: A 90% B 80% C 70% D 60% These cutoff levels may drop but they will not rise. I do not grade on a curve so you are competing only with yourself. I encourage you to work in small groups with other students as much as possible. Class Participation: Your attendance and eager participation in the class will help you learn, and thus it should also help your grade. In lecture, we will be using a remote controlled student response system that will record your responses to various multiple-choice questions I will ask during class. Your class participation grade will be based on the percentage of these questions that you have answered, regardless of whether or not your answers were correct. Note: You will automatically be dropped from this course if you miss six classes. PLC Activities: The drop-in Physics Learning Community (room 209) will be open every day. You are required to complete PLC activities that will take approximately 1.1 hours each week. These activities are designed to support analytical and conceptual learning of the material and should be worked in small groups for best learning. To get credit for the PLC activities each week, you must show your work to a tutor or instructor in the PLC and have them initial a sign out sheet. Note: I also encourage you to work on your homework assignments in small groups in the PLC whenever possible.
Lab Reports: Active participation and attendance in lab is mandatory. Please take lab notes in ink on loose sheets of paper while in lab. Labs will be collected every other Monday, one of which will be a semi-formal lab report. The Lab Report Guidelines handout describes the format you should use for these reports, which should include names (you and your partners), title, date, experimental procedure, data organized into tables or graphs (may be printouts from Excel or other program), calculations/results and a discussion/conclusion. Note: You will automatically be dropped from this course if you miss four lab sections. Homework: Questions and problems from the text will be assigned and collected approximately once a week. Your success in the class will depend largely on the effort that you invest in these. I encourage you to work on the homework assignments in small groups, however, you must write up your answers individually. Assignments must be placed on the instructor s desk before class begins on the due date. No late assignments are accepted (unless you use one of your two NQA coupons) so hand in what you have completed. If you cannot attend class, arrange to have a friend turn in your problem set. You must use the format described in the Homework Guidelines handout to get full credit. The homework solutions will be posted on the course website the same day the homework is turned in. Quizzes: A 15-20 minute quiz will be given at the beginning of class the day that homework is turned in. Each quiz will test you on the concepts and problems covered in class, in lab, in the PLC activities, and in the homework. You will do well on the quizzes as long as you attend every class, focus on understanding the concepts as well as the equations, and keep up with the homework. Quizzes will be closed book, but you will be allowed to bring one standard-sized (4 by 6 ) index card with notes and formulas. Exams: There will be a midterm and a final exam. The exams will consist of approximately 30% conceptual questions and 70% problems. They will cover all course material including textbook readings, lectures, labs, homework assignments, quizzes, and PLC activities. Exams will be closed book, but you will be allowed to bring one 8.5 by 11 sheet of paper (double sided) with notes and formulas. A written excuse (medical, legal, family emergency, etc.) must be provided if an exam is missed preferably prior to the exam.
Students with Special Circumstances: If you have a medical condition or learning impairment that requires some special classroom accommodations, please meet with me during my office hours to discuss your needs as soon as possible. Prior to meeting with me, you should meet with a Disabled Student Services counselor or a Learning Disabilities Specialist to officially verify your disability and to obtain an Accommodations Request Form. Expected Time Commitment: You should expect to spend about 16 hours per week (inside and outside of class) studying Physics 11. Spending less time than this will decrease your chances of doing well in this course. In class: Lectures (3 hours) Lab (3 hours) PLC (1 hour 5 minutes) Outside of class: Reading textbook (~2 hours) Homework (5 hours) Studying (2 hours) Class Policies: Policy on Attendance: Quizzes and exams are based on information presented in lecture so attendance is critical to your success. You will automatically be dropped from this course if you miss 6 classes. It is also imperative that you arrive exactly on time. It is rude to your fellow students and to me when you are late. Repeated tardiness, according to the Cabrillo College guidelines, may be defined as disruption, and disruptive students may be dropped at the instructor's discretion. Students tardy a total of six times (either to class or to lab) may be dropped from the course. Policy on Academic Dishonesty: I assume that the student is familiar with Cabrillo College s policy on academic dishonesty, which states that cheating or plagiarism is "prohibited conduct. In this class, cheating is considered to be copying any other source but your own, including looking at someone else's paper during a quiz or exam. Although I highly encourage students to work together in small groups on homework assignments, the solutions to each problem must be written up individually. Copying someone else s work will result in a zero on the assignment or exam for the first offense and an F in the course for the second offense.
Policy on Cell Phone Usage: There is a strict no cell phone policy during lectures and labs. If you chose to violate this policy by using your cell phone to text, check email, and/or surf the web, you will receive a slip of paper similar to the one below. You will then have a choice of either leaving class for the day or losing 20% off of your class participation grade at the end of the semester. Policy on Late Assignments: Assignments (HW, lab reports, ) must be turned in by the beginning of class on the day they are due. Any assignment turned in after that time is considered late and will be marked down 50%. Late assignments must be turned in by the next class meeting. After that, no late assignments will be accepted. You will get two NQA (No Questions Asked) coupons similar to the one below that you may use at any time during the semester. These coupons will allow you to turn in a HW assignment or lab report up to one day late without penalty.